• 04-05-2004, 01:53 PM
    Kam
    Hellboy, Dawn of the Dead, Master & Commander and The Rundown
    Hellboy - good fun movie. never read the comic books, so not sure how it stacks up, but fun popcorn type flick movie, good action sequences, fun characters, but just a lil long at just under 2 hours, so i guess that means it was a little slow for me at place. I generally like a 2+ hour movie, and if an action movie can sustain your interest for 2+ hours, that's a damn fine movie. This one clocked in at just under 2 hours and, at times, was a little slow in the plot development section. there's a mini-love story between hellboy and Selma Blair's character that was interesting enough, but should been moved along faster.

    Dawn of the Dead - i haven't seen all of the original, but i really enjoyed this version. i did not like the fact that all the political issues raised in the original (and other zombie movies from romero) were not brought up here, but as a fun horror flick goes, it was pretty disturbing. not a happy ending, which i kinda liked, but they added in a ton of characters that you just knew were superfluous and were gonna bite it sooner or later. i woulda liked to have seen more in-fighting i guess, how romero showed that in spite of being potentially the last 20 (or whatever #) humans alive, they still split into two camps and fight amongst each other. a real interesting take on human nature, that was missing here. OR... maybe it was missing cuz the filmmakers wanted to show humanity as a unified front... who knows. either way, fun movie.

    Master and Commander - VERY slow methodical movie that really doesnt have the 'hollywood' story structure since the ending of the movie is really just the beginning of another movie. it's basically a 100mm art house movie. tons of character development and some very interesting battles, but, imo, not worthy of a best picture nod over some of the other movies i had seen last year. the battles were amazing and i finally figured out how the whole speed in water "knots" terminology comes from. they explain it in a simple, cool scene as the ship is running away. overall all a good movie, but be prepared, this isn't an "action flick" its a character movie that focusses on russel crowe and paul bettany's two characters, the ship's captain and doctor. both of whom do great jobs again. paul bettany, i think, is a really great actor. was the best part of beautiful mind i thought.

    The Rundown - some of my friends hated the movie mainly because they dont like The Rock. Personally, as a fellow UM alum, i think he's awesome. it's a fun action movie that just sends you all over the place in brazil and borrows from everything from Romancing the Stone to Indiana Jones and does so in a fun way so you don't feel like they're "ripping off' those movies, but paying their respects in a way. the only character i didn't really like was sean william's scott mainly because they make him ambiguous all the way till the ending. you're not really sure if you are supposed to like him or think he's an ass, or maybe both. but it was too inbetween for me. funny though. and chris walken continues to play the strangest, funniest characters around. he automatically doubles the value of any line just by his unique delivery. definitely a fun rental.

    that's the latest from the peanut gallery in nyc!

    peace
    k2